So much for an “A” for effort.
Students at Harvard University are furious over a controversial proposal that could limit the number of A grades faculty can award in undergraduate courses, a move administrators say is necessary to curb rampant grade inflation.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is set to vote next week on a plan that would cap straight A grades at roughly 20 percent of a class roster, with up to four additional A’s allowed in smaller courses. This would bring the number of A’s back down to the levels Harvard had in 2011. The proposal would also eliminate the traditional GPA as an internal metric, instead using percentile rankings to determine distinctions such as cum laude graduates.
“The proposal’s fundamental flaw, however, is expecting that an academic institution as pedagogically diverse as Harvard could somehow inspire academic vocation with a tool as crude as a quota,” The Harvard Crimson staff writers said in February.
The proposal follows a report showing that grade inflation at Harvard has grown dramatically over the past two decades. In the 2024-25 school year, roughly 60 percent of all undergraduate grades were A’s, a sharp increase from just 25 percent in the 2005-06 academic year.
“We have to do what’s in the interest of preserving the reputation of Harvard, and they all benefit from that,” Amanda Claybaugh, the dean of undergraduate education, told The Wall Street Journal.
A survey conducted by Harvard’s undergraduate student government found overwhelming opposition to the proposed A-grade cap, with approximately 94 percent of respondents disapproving, based on more than 800 responses, the outlet reports.
Student frustration has spilled into campus culture, with memes depicting an administrator behind the proposal as Gandalf from “Lord of the Rings,” declaring, “You shall not pass!”
“The fact that this policy even MIGHT go into effect with 94 percent student disapproval is absurd and goes to show how much this administration cares about us,” one student wrote on a Harvard forum, according to WSJ.
Administrators have responded to the backlash by tweaking the plan. Earlier this week, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh announced a one-year delay, moving the earliest possible rollout to fall 2027, and introduced a new “SAT+” grade option designed to give instructors additional flexibility.
The reforms would cap only straight A grades, leaving A‑minuses unaffected. Committee members behind the proposal expect this change to make A‑minuses more common and socially acceptable, reducing the stigma around receiving less than a perfect grade. Supporters of the cap argue that reducing the share of A’s will restore the value of top marks and help employers and graduate schools better distinguish student achievement.
“We want to liberate students from the tyranny of the 4.0 and make them free to explore. We want to put the ‘us’ back in A-minus,” Joshua Greene, a Harvard psychology professor and member of the committee behind the proposal, told WSJ.
